Stowmarket Guncotton Explosion

In the mid-19th century, Guncotton began to be produced as a replacement for gun powder as propellant in firearms and for use as a low-order explosive in mining.{{cite web |last1=Freemantle |first1=Michael |title=Guncotton or nitrocellulose |url=https://www.chemistryworld.com/podcasts/guncotton-or-nitrocellulose/9107.article |website=Chemistry World |access-date=11 July 2021 |language=en |date=28 October 2015}} Even before the explosion at Stowmarket some of the earlier factories that had produced it discontinued production soon after due to the volatility of the substance during manufacture.{{cite web |title=Explosives History |url=https://www.usna.edu/ChemDept/_files/documents/111pdf/2019_Documents/Z__NavApps_Explosives_SNAC_exp_2005.wpd.pdf |website=U.S. Naval Academy |access-date=4 June 2021}}

Sir Frederick Abel developed a manufacturing process that eliminated the impurities in nitrocellulose making it safer to produce and a stable product that was safer to handle, and it was this process that was used at the Stowmarket factory.{{cite book |last1=Durrant |first1=Mike |title=The Stowmarket Gun Cotton Explosion 1871 |date=2017}} A previous accident taking the lives of two or three people had taken place in 1864.

It was a Friday afternoon when the two explosions took place, and approximately 130 employees were on site at the time. There would have been approximately ten tons of guncotton stored in the 3 magazines at one end of the works that day. The first, and largest, explosion occurred at the magazines shortly after 2 pm{{efn|Sources state 14:05 and 14:10{{cite news |title=Latest Intelligence – Shocking Calamity – Explosion and Entire Destruction of the Gun Cotton Works at Stowmarket |work=The Ipswich Journal |date=12 August 1871}}}} after the workers had returned from lunch. Between the explosions much of the site was on fire and people, including the Prentices, attempted to move undamaged boxes containing more guncotton away from the fire to prevent further explosions. The second explosion occurred at approximately 3 pm in the packing sheds; a third explosion immediately followed in another packing shed. The flames were visible for miles.

The noise of the explosion was reported to be so loud, that it rattled the windows in Diss, approximately 17 miles away and Southwold 30 miles away. The impact created a chasm in the ground nearly {{convert|100|ft}} in diameter, and uprooted trees and the nearby railway line. It was reported to have caused over 188 cases of deafness. Telegrams requesting assistance were sent across the county including to Ipswich. Five fire engines attended the scene and by midnight the fire was under control and a search for the missing persons began.

Due to the proximity of the factory to the town damage was sustained to properties across the area, notably in a largely residential area of Stowmarket called California{{efn|Streets in this area include Bridge Street and Lime Tree Place.}} that was particularly close to the factory. A number of people were blown into the River Gipping that passed through and was used by the factory.

Two members of the Prentice family, who owned the factory, William Ridley Prentice (1847–1871) and Edward Henry Prentice (1838–1871) were included in the list of the dead, and killed in the second explosion at approximately 3 pm.{{cite web|last=Black|first=Don|title=Abiding mystery of the Stowmarket gun cotton explosion|url=https://www.edp24.co.uk/features/1871-tragedy-which-cost-23-lives-1-5494036|access-date=5 August 2020|website=Eastern Daily Press|date=5 May 2018 |language=en|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|title=Find a will {{!}} GOV.UK|url=https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/Calendar?surname=Prentice&yearOfDeath=1871&page=4#calendar|access-date=5 August 2020|website=probatesearch.service.gov.uk|language=en}} Accounts from the time indicated that they were dismembered in the explosions and almost beyond identification.

Of the dead, 23 were buried in the town's old cemetery the other 5 in their respective Parish. Many of the dead were children and young adults, and most were employed by the company. Many of the dead were not given a memorial at the time, and there were reports of the Suffolk council downplaying the number of fatalities. However, there is now a small memorial at Stowmarket Old Cemetery that was created in 2014 and details the 23 who were buried there.{{Citation|last=Knott|first=Simon|title=the victims of Stowmarkets Guncotton Explosion|date=15 August 2017|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/norfolkodyssey/36557432826/|access-date=5 August 2020}} Approximately 70 people were injured.

Those known to have died include (age at time of death in parentheses):

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• Alfred Bloom (12)
• Mary Ann Mount (12)
• Alice Mutimer (12)
• Susan Wilding (12)
• Amy Hare (13)
• John Girling (13)
• Francis Mayhew (14)
• William Parker (14)
• James Thomas (15)

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• Alfred Williams (16)
• Anna Miller (17)
• James Read (17)
• Richard King (22)
• John Hagger (22)
• Ann Marie Markwell (22)
• William Ridley Prentice (23)
• Samuel Firman (26)

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• Edward Henry Prentice (33)
• James Parish (33)
• John Wright (33)
• Walter Howe (38)
• John Canham (47)
• James Ransom (49)
• J. Gallants{{efn|They were buried within their respective parish and are not named on the 2014 memorial.|name=fn1}}
• J. Runnacles{{efn|name=fn1}}

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From 12 August to 6 September an inquest into the event was held at the County Court over eight sittings. The scene of the explosion was visited by thousands of people in the subsequent days. The UK Government issued an order with a reward of £100 to find out the cause.{{cite web |title=Fire Service |url=https://files.ehive.com/accounts/3978/objects/files/92bdae0b827c4d7fa1e15d4b32727ab0.pdf |publisher=Museum of East Anglian Life |access-date=11 July 2021}} No one was ever prosecuted for the event occurring.{{cite web |title=Sue and Steve Williams, The Stowmarket Gun Cotton Explosion of 1871 |url=http://heritagecircle.onesuffolk.net/assets/Uploads/201510Sue-and-Steve-Williams.pdf |website=Heritage Circle|access-date=12 July 2021}} There was also an enquiry by the Government's Chief Inspector of Explosives, Vivian Dering Majendie.Report on the Explosion of Gun-Cotton at Stowmarket, on 11 August 1871. 1872.

The cause was probably several tons of gun cotton combusting due to the summer heat{{efn|Though properly, washed, dried and treated gun cotton is supposed to combust at a temperature of {{convert|300|F}}.}} and the poor standards of hygiene, as well as a blatant disregard for health and safety. The process of producing guncotton includes the washing away of the acids used in an earlier part of its production and drying, and the product becomes 'safer' to handle at various stages of its manufacture;{{cite web |title=Demonstrations – Guncotton |url=https://www.angelo.edu/faculty/kboudrea/demos/guncotton/guncotton.htm |website=angelo.edu}} the inquest indicated that the "adding of sulphuric acid to the gun cotton subsequent to its passing the tests required by Government" was a cause of the event. It also concluded that "gun cotton works should not be allowed near a town" and "gun cotton works should be subject to constant Government inspection".

After the explosion the factory was rebuilt to a different design in 1872. In the years that followed government enforced safety regulations were increased, partly as a consequence of the explosion at Stowmarket. In the 20th century the factory diversified into lacquers and paints and moved away from explosives.{{cite web |title=ICI Paints Division, Stowmarket |url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/00bad737-b187-4f01-8c63-e540754af59c |website=The National Archives |access-date=4 June 2021 |language=English |date=1871–1979}} Parts of the site are still currently used as paint factories operated by AkzoNobel{{cite news |title=ICI agrees to be bought by Akzo |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6943609.stm |access-date=4 June 2021 |work=BBC News |date=13 August 2007}} and PPG Industries.{{cite news |last1=Reason |first1=Matt |title=Third bid for Stowmarket Dulux paint factory rebuffed – fears of PPG hostile takeover of AkzoNobel |url=https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/third-bid-for-stowmarket-dulux-paint-factory-rebuffed-fears-of-2344578 |access-date=6 July 2021 |work=East Anglian Daily Times |date=8 May 2017 |language=en-UK}}

The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory notes the enquiry into the explosion led by Captain Vivian Dering Majendie as among the earliest work of what would later become known as their Forensic Explosives Laboratory.{{cite web |title=Dstl marks 150 year history of its forensic explosives laboratory |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/dstl-marks-150-year-history-of-its-forensic-explosives-laboratory |website=GOV.UK |publisher=Defence Science and Technology Laboratory and Home Office |access-date=15 August 2021 |language=en |date=11 August 2021}}

• Stowmarket Guncotton Company
• Prentice Brothers Limited (Chemical Works)

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{{Wikisource|Harper's New Monthly Magazine/Vol. XLIV/No. 261/February 1872/Editor's Scientific Record/Explosion of Gun-Cotton at Stowmarket}}

• [https://books.google.com/books?id=bLJXAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA283 The Mechanics' Magazine and Journal of Science, Arts, and Manufactures]. Volume 96. 6 April 1872. pp. 283–284. Retrieved January 2014.
• [https://books.google.com/books?id=1cMsAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA322 Van Nostrand's Eclectic Engineering Magazine]. p. 322.

Category:Disasters in Suffolk

Category:Stowmarket

Category:1871 industrial disasters

Category:1871 in England

Category:19th century in Suffolk